PLANT PAINT CROSS-POLLINATE
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‘Plant Paint Cross-Pollinate’ (PPCP) is a public art mural project led by artist Jenn Houle that cultivates ‘botanical belonging’, decolonizes public and private land, and restores ecosystem health with native plants. Through community art and nature workshops, PPCP inspires a cultural shift from echoes of colonization, lawns & imported plants, towards restorative land use: interspecies habitat for seasonal cycles in a shifting climate.
At Plant and Paint & Seed Stories workshops in Oct 2024 - Jan 2025, participants will paint Butterfly Mural signs then plant and keep the seeds of native pollinator-friendly species and share ‘Seed Stories’ personal connections to place & plants. The community will create 200 Butterfly Mural signs to display in their yards or join the upcoming 2025 summer Butterfly Mural migration, and Seed Story packets of native seeds will be distributed at partner sites including conservation land, public libraries and schools.
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Special thanks to Collective Futures Fund Ongoing Platforms Grant, a regranting program hosted by Tufts University Art Galleries.
Visit this interactive map to view the locations of the 2023 Butterfly Mural Migration!
In January & February 2023, residents of seven Massachusetts communities created 15 of the butterfly signs at Plant and Paint workshops where participants planted and kept the seeds of native pollinator-friendly species, collected by local garden and environment groups and Project Coordinator Jenn Houle. The remaining 5 butterfly signs were painted by Houle. She rendered examples from each of the five lepidopterous families native to Massachusetts, and focusing on the plants that they feed, nest, pupate, and metamorphose on. These signs were released into the ongoing migration on June 1, July 1, August 1, Sept 1 & Oct 1.
The Butterfly Mural Migration toured from May 2023 - October 2023 throughout Amesbury, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimac, Newbury and West Newbury on public conservation land, at public libraries, and around local schools. Signs citing project sponsors aid in raised awareness about native plants, eco-friendly gardening practices and resources available to the host communities.